State Board of Forestry. 83 



Associated with this is the slight height at which the main 

 branching occurs. An examination of the tables will show that 

 relatively few trees are included which would furnish a clear six- 

 teen-foot log and only one or two which would furnish two such 

 logs. The economic significance of these characters is so evident 

 as to need no discussion. 



Some important deductions can be drawn from the facts set 

 out in this paper. 



1. The growing of "saw- timber" requires not merely care and 

 skill, it also requires time. If the one hundred and eighty trees 

 examined are considered it is found that the average time required 

 to reach a diameter of twelve inches was ninety-four years. Saw- 

 timber twelve inches in diameter of the species is not high class 

 material. As a rule (excepting perhaps the hickories) the growth 

 rate begins to decrease after sixty or seventy years, sO' that any 

 diameter increase above the limits indicated would be extremely 

 slow. Investment in land for the purpose of producing high grade 

 saw timber is not a promising one for the individual. Such in- 

 vestments are suitable for the State or for great corporations. 



2. These studies indicate that the reforestation of our de- 

 nuded areas is not a task for the individual land owner or investor, 

 but is one which properly belongs to the State or in exceptional 

 cases to great industrial corporations dependent upon the forest 

 for raw material. The value of such investments is indicated by 

 the large acreage of such land acquired within the last few years 

 by the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, 

 Wisconsin and others. 



3. The data emphasize the fact of the necessity of properly 

 managing the existing woodlots. In practically every instance re- 

 enforcement is necessary in order to secure a tree form which will 

 have a market value. It is necessary, also, in the interests of 

 true conservation that the woodlot should carry its full load of 

 trees. Under present conditions this increase in the number of 

 trees per acre, especially if of high grade species, cannot be looked 

 for from natural seed regeneration. Suitable seed trees of de- 

 sirable species do not exist in any area in sufficient numbers to in- 

 sure their production as against that of less desirable forms. For- 

 tunately this artificial reenforcement is neither difficult nor ex- 

 pensive. It requires chiefly time and persistence. It should be rec- 

 ognized that a woodlot carrying only one-half of the trees of which 

 it is capable is as great a mistake economically as to permit a com- 



